David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss

Francis David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss and 8th Earl of March (19 January 1912 – 12 December 2008), styled Lord Elcho from 1916 to 1937, was a Scottish peer, landowner and conservationist. From 1946 to 1991, he served as chairman and then president of the National Trust for Scotland.

Early life and education He was born in Belgravia in London, the eldest son of Lady Violet Manners, daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland, and Capt. Hugo Francis Charteris, Lord Elcho, who was killed in action in 1916 in Egypt while serving in the First World War. He was educated at Eton College and at Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1933), and also studied agriculture at both Oxford and Cambridge as a postgraduate student. At age 25, he succeeded his grandfather in the family titles in 1937.

Career Wemyss was commissioned into the Lovat Scouts (Territorial Army) as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1932. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1935 and transferred to the TA Reserve of Officers in 1937, and served as a Colonial Administrator in Basutoland from 1937 until 1944. During the Second World War, he did not rejoin the Lovat Scouts but instead served as a major with Basuto troops in the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps from 1941 to 1944 in North Africa, on account of his fluency in Sotho.

He was Deputy Lieutenant from 1959 to 1967 and Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian from 1967 until 1987, and a Justice of the Peace since 1957. He was appointed as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1959, 1960 and 1977. He held the honorary appointment of Lord Clerk Register from 1974 until 2007. Lord Wemyss married, secondly, in 1995, Shelagh Kathleen Kennedy, née Thrift.

His younger brother, Martin Charteris, Baron Charteris of Amisfield, was Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II.

His younger son, James Donald Charteris, Lord Neidpath (b. 22 June 1948), succeeded his father.

Honours Wemyss was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1966. He held an honorary LLD from the University of St Andrews awarded in 1953, and an honorary DUniv from the University of Edinburgh awarded in 1983.